Mail-box.



PATENTED FEB. 17, 190.3. 0. M.-AARSETH.

MAIL BOX.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 7, 1902.

NO'HODEL.

a ZZ flarac/A I z zzgywrga WQMM UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

OLE M. AARSETH, OF ECHO, MINNESOTA.

MAIL-BOX.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 720,651, dated February 17, 1903. Application filed July 7,1902. $erial No. 114,693. (No model.)

To alt whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, OLE M. AARSETH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Echo, in

an improved mail-box especially adapted for rural-delivery routes; and to this end it consists of the novel devicesand combinations of devices hereinafter described, and defined in the claims.

The device is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like characters indicate like parts throughout the several views.

Figure 1 is a front elevation showing a mail-box embodying the several features of my invention. Fig. 2 is a section on the line 00 m of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 isa view in front ele vation with some parts broken away, showing the lid or door of the box turned up to permit of the introduction of a letter; and Fig. 4 is a bottom plan view of the lid or door of the box, some parts being broken away and others being sectioned.

The body 1 'of the box is preferably of rectangular form, conveniently formed of tin or thin sheet metal and having a bottom 2 of wood. However, the entire box may be made of metal and, if desired, may be cast. The box is preferably provided with a gable roof, the rear side 3 of which is rigidly secured to the body 1 and the forward side of which is pivotally connected thereto bya longitudinal hinge 3 and affords a swinging door or gate 4. The roof 3 4 preferably projects at all four sides of the box, after the manner of the eaves of a house, and thus protects the interior of the box from rain.

Radially depending from the hinged upper edge of the door 4 is a supplemental door or guard-plate 5, which extends from side to side of the box and is connected for movements with the door 4, preferably by a pair of segmental brackets 6. On the under side of the door 4 a spring letter-holder 7 is secured. This holder 7 is adapted to hold in position an envelop s, as indicated in Figs. 2 and 4.

Mounted to slide transversely of the front wall of the box, at the upper edge thereof and within keepers 8, preferably formed by rolling over the-upper edge of the box, is a pair of lock-plungers 9, provided at their outer ends with hooks 10 and at their inner ends with depending eyelets 11. The hooked ends 10 work inward through suitable seats in the sides of the box and afford detents or stops which project between the door 4 and its supplemental plate or section 5. The depending eyes 11 when the plungers are drawn together and the stops or detents l0 forced inward lie close together, so that the jaw of a padlock 2 (indicated in Fig. 1) may be passed therethrough to lock the plungers together. Preferably, however, I provide a pivoted hasp or yoke 12', held by bearings 13 on the front side of the box, with its free end adapted to be swung over the depending loops 11 before the padlock is applied thereto, as shown in Fig. 1. This hasp assists the padlock in holding the plungers Q'against sliding movements.

The character 2 indicates a post to which the box is shown as secured. The box may, of course, be secured in any suitable way and to any suitable support. 7

' The box as above described is acomplete mailing-box; but I preferably provide the same with two attachments, which will now be described.

The numeral 14 indicates a signaling-rod, which is shown as bent zigzag and is pivoted to the lower edge of the roof-section 3 at 15 and is provided at its upper free end with a flag 16 or other device which will serve to attract the attention of the mail-carrier at a distance. This device is providedin connection with the letter-holder 7 onthe under side of the door 4.

With the plungers 9 looked, as shown by full lines in. the drawings,the mail-carrier may raise the door 4 from its normal or closed position into the intermediate dotted-line positon, (shown in Fig. 2,) in which position the supplemental section or plate 5 closes the opening into the letter-box and prevents the insertion of the hand, so as to remove anythingfrom the box. However, when the door is thus raised letters or other 1nail-matter which is not too large for the box may be placed between the door 4: and section 5, and when the said door is closed down such mailmatter will drop into the box.

If the person to whom the box belongs desires a letter to be mailed or taken up by the carrier, he secures it to the bottom or under side of the door4 by means of the spring-holder 7. He then turns the signaling device 14 16 up over the top of the roof, as shown by full lines in Fig. 2, and this will serve as a signal to the carrier that mail is to be collected or taken up. When there is no mail to be taken up by the carrier, the said device let 16 is thrown downward into the position indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 2.

To remove mail from the box, the padlock .2" is removed, the hasp 12 is turned forward, the plungers 9 are separated, so'as to throw the detents or stops 10 out of the path of the supplemental plate or door section 5, and the said door is then raised to the extreme position indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 2.

It will frequently happen thata person desiring to mail a letter may not possess a stamp and may not be within a considerable distance from a place where stamps are sold. Hence I provide thebox with a coin-holder into which small change may be dropped sufficient to pay for stamps of letters placed in the holder 7. This holder is afforded by a pocket 17, which is open at its innerside and is carried by an angular bracket 18, the prongs of which are pivoted at their upper ends to the bearings 13 and the lower end of which is bent to engage the underside of the bottom 2 of the box, as best shown in Figs. 1 and 2. A screw 19 serves to frictionally hold the holder 18 in either of the two positions indicated in Fig. 2. The lower end of the holder 18 is bent downward to afford a thumbpiece 20. The upper end of the pocket 17 is open. \Vhen the pocket is in the position indicated by full lines in Fig. 2, it will hold the coin; but when pushed into the position indicated by dotted lines it will drop the coin between the lower end of the pocket and the front of the box.

It will of course be understood that the device above described is capable of many modifications in its details of construction within the scope of my invention as herein set forth and claimed.

Vhat I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is as follows:

1. A mail-box having a doorprovided with a supplemental section spaced inward therefrom but movable therewith, a stop projecting into the box between the sections of said door and permitting movement of said door but preventing the supplemental section from being moved far enough to open up the entrance-passage, which stop is movable into an operative position to permit said door and supplemental section to be moved into a position to aiford access to said box, substan tially as described.

2. The combination with a mail-box having an entrance-passage, of a hinged door normally closing said entrance-passage and provided with a supplemental inner section or guard-plate connected for movements therewith, a sliding plunger having an end which normally projects into the box between said door and its supplemental section, to limit the opening movement of said door, means for locking said plunger in an operative position, and means for moving the same into an inoperative position to release the said door, substantially as described.

3. The combination with a mail-box of the hinged door 4. having the supplemental section or inner guard-plate 5 connected for movements therewith by brackets 6, the sliding plungers 9 provided with thehooked ends 10 affording stops which normally project into the box between said door 4 and supplemental section 5, and means for locking said plungers together with their stopsin operative positions, substantially as described.

4. The combination with the box 1 having the roof'section 3, of the door 4: hinged to said box at 3, the guard-plate 5 connected to said door 4 by brackets 6, the plungers 9 provided at their inner ends with depending eyes 11 and at their outer ends with the stop-forming hooks 1O projecting into the box between said door 4 and plate 5, the pivoted hasp 12 cooperating with said eyes 11, and a padlock applicable to said eyes 11 to lock said plunger, substantially as described.

5. The combination with a mailbox of a coin-holder comprising the pivoted frictionally-held bracket 18 and pocket 17 on the inner side of which pocket is open but is normally pressed against the side of the box to adapt said pocket to hold coin, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

OLE M. AARSETII.

\Vituesses:

M. LIPKE, K. M. AARSETII. 

